In ancient China, knives were mostly single-handed, but there were always two-handed knives, which even became the mainstream in the Ming Dynasty. Today, there are about three kinds of familiar two-handed knives: single knife, Miao knife and horse-chopping knife.
Single knife is a kind of long knife in Ming dynasty, which has nothing to do with the "single knife" in our Wushu routine today. The "single knife" in our Wushu routine today refers to the routine of using one-handed knife.
In the Ming dynasty, one-handed knives were either used as auxiliary self-defense weapons or used with shields, so it was impossible to use them alone. In the Ming dynasty, a single knife needed both hands, and one person could only fight with one knife, so it was called a single knife. In Ming Dynasty, single knife was military equipment, and its specifications were relatively uniform. However, if it was subdivided, there were different standards, but in general, its length was around 160.
According to the Military Equipment Outline, the single knife is four feet and nine inches (about 157㎝), of which the blade is three feet and five inches (1 12㎝) and the handle is one foot and four inches (about 45cm). The Miao Dao method recorded in "Wu Bei lue" is the same as that recorded in "Single Dao Method Selection", with flexible footwork and light blade, which is applied to light troops.
However, the single knife recorded in Single Knife Selection is five feet long (about 160cm), the blade is three feet eight inches long (about 122㎝), and the handle is one foot two inches long (about 38cm). In contrast, the single knife recorded in the Selection of Single Knife Method is a Miao Dao used by folk martial arts practitioners in Ming Dynasty, with a long blade and a short handle, which is slightly more difficult to operate.
However, these are all formulas. In fact, it is difficult to ensure that the length of each batch of forged swords is consistent in all aspects in ancient times, so the length of single swords passed down from generation to generation is different, but it is generally around 160cm.
There are two variants of single knife in Ming dynasty, one is long knife, the other is knife with crossbow, the other is enlarged version and the other is reduced version.
The long blade is five feet (160㎝), the handle is one foot and five inches (about 48 cm), * * * is six feet and five inches (208㎝), and it weighs two kilograms and eight ounces (about today 1.5 kilograms). There is also a foot-long blade in front of the shovel of the long knife. In many actions, you can attack here with a protective blade.
Moreover, thanks to the forging process in the Ming Dynasty, the long Dao only weighs 1.5kg, which is firm and flexible. Therefore, the technique of long Dao is very complicated, like a knife, like a gun, like a fist, and like a broadsword, which makes people unpredictable. The long knife technique in Ming dynasty is famous as "the method of using a knife with the heart".
During the Wanli period, the Ming army fought against Japan and aided Korea, and taught martial arts to the Korean army, including the art of using saber. Up to now, the art of mind with knife is still well preserved in South Korea, and there are many schools.
Crossbow knife is an auxiliary equipment carried by crossbowmen. Because it is inconvenient for crossbowmen to equip with shields, he also uses two-handed knives for melee. The crossbow knife is three feet six inches (about 1 15cm), the handle is one foot (32cm) and the blade is two feet six inches (about 83cm). This is a portable two-handed knife.
Knives with crossbows are cruel and often take them by surprise. In actual combat, there is even a way to hide the flying knife and then throw it out. Most of the folk Miao Dao's knife routine also comes from the single knife method in Ming Dynasty. However, many statements on the Internet confuse single knife with Miao knife, which is very wrong.
First of all, before the Republic of China, there was no such thing as Miao Dao. In other words, Miao Dao really took shape in the Republic of China, and it was a weapon that appeared later.
Secondly, Miao Dao and Ming single Dao are slightly different in shape. Comparatively speaking, the length of Miao Dao is generally 130cm to 140cm, which is shorter than ordinary single Dao in Ming Dynasty and longer than Dao with crossbow in Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the blade at the back end of Miao Dao is straighter than the ordinary single Dao in Ming Dynasty, and the tip has some radians, while the single Dao has radians from beginning to end, and some even have radians in the handle.
However, one thing is certain, that is, Miao Dao is definitely developed from the two-handed Dao in Ming Dynasty. This form appeared in the Qing Dynasty, when it was called "holding a knife", which was the equipment of green camp people in the Qing Dynasty. Most of the modern Miao Dao's swordsmanship originated from the Jishi family in Tianjin, which was taught by green camp for generations, and was skillful in both hands.
Why "Holding Dao" was renamed as "Miao Dao" is an unsolved mystery, and there are different opinions.
Some people think that the single Dao in Ming Dynasty is also called "Ming Japanese Dao", and "Ming Japanese Dao" was misread and misrepresented as "Miao Dao". This statement obviously doesn't make sense, because the direct predecessor of Miao Dao is "holding a knife with both hands", rather than directly inheriting the single knife of the Ming Dynasty, and such an error will not occur.
It is also said that Miao Dao is shaped like "He Miao", hence its name. This statement is widely circulated, but Ma Mingda, a martial arts master, does not agree with it. He thinks that the person who changed the name of "Two-handed Dao" to "Miaodao" is a "shallow person" and a Jianghu Boxer with a low educational level in the Republic of China.
After long-term research, Mr. Ma Mingda finally found that the name Miao Dao was not groundless, but it was not based on serious historical classics, but a martial arts novel with the theme of the Ming Dynasty's war against Japan during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. It seems that it is not only the characteristics of some organizations today, but also many such people since the Republic of China.
In contrast, the name "horse-cutting knife" has a long history. In the Song Dynasty, there was a weapon called "horse-cutting knife". According to historical records, the horse-chopping knife in the Song Dynasty is "more than three feet long, with a big ring at the head", that is, it is about one meter long, but its shape has not been tested. The shape of the "horse-cutting knife" is not recorded in Wu Yao in the Ming Dynasty, so it should be lost.
Great changes have taken place in China's weapons in the Qing Dynasty, such as the evolution from single knife to double-handed knife, which is considered to be relatively rare. The most common knives, swords, guns, etc. The martial arts routines are all in Qing dynasty style, which is very different from weapons before Qing dynasty.
Because after the Manchu entered the customs, the Manchu policy was vigorously promoted, not only locally but also militarily. The weapons of the Eight Banners are Manchu style, with fine workmanship; Although the weapons of the Han army in green camp are different, they are all gradually influenced by the Manchu style. Except for a few weapons and equipment, many of them were assimilated by Manchuria.
However, green camp, which is composed of Han people, still has some weapons that retain the Ming style. In addition to holding a knife in both hands, a horse-chopping knife is also one of them.
The name of green camp's horse-chopping knife is naturally attached to the Song Dynasty's "horse-chopping knife", and in order to avoid troubles such as literary inquisition, people in green camp kept silent about the relationship between the horse-chopping knife and the Ming Dynasty's two-handed knife. The horse-chopping knife is four feet eight inches (about 153.6㎝), the blade is three feet four inches (about 109㎝), and the handle is about 44.6㎝.
Many people think that the blade of the horse-chopping knife is very wide, and its shape is very similar to the big blade in the Republic of China. Actually, it is not. The width of the widest part of the horse-cutting knife is 4.8 cm, which is not an exaggeration considering the length of the blade of more than one meter.
In contrast, the blade of the Eight Banners official is 2 feet 2 inches (70cm) long and nearly 4.2㎝ wide, while the ju equipped in green camp is only 44㎝, which has reached 7.68 cm wide.
However, the narrow blade will not affect the chopping force of the knife. The so-called "quick horse and light knife" pursues lightweight, which is in line with the development direction of knives all over the world at that time. The tip of some horse-chopping knives is different from that of ordinary two-handed knives and single knives. It's not a Japanese tip, nor a flat-backed tip, but a broadsword tip.
The center of gravity of the broadsword tip is slightly forward, which sacrifices the function and flexibility of some thorns, but can increase the chopping power. There was a similar shape in Ming dynasty, but it was not called "horse-cutting knife" but "giant knife", which was also one of the variants of slender two-handed knife and single knife.
In Water Margin, the guy used by heroes to rob their homes is the Ming-style "giant". Although the influence of green camp people on the double-handed Dao in Ming Dynasty was kept secret, the relationship between Ming-style giant Dao and Qing-style double-handed Dao was obvious.
To sum up briefly, Miao Dao is the descendant of single Dao, horse-chopping Dao is the descendant of Ming-style giant Dao, and Ming-style giant Dao is a variant of Ming-style giant Dao. There is a correlation between them, but they must not be confused.